If any of the assumptions does not hold, you need to amend the instructions accordingly.

Start the node

It is recommended that the node has at least 4 GB of memory available.

When it starts, the node checks the maximum number of open files (ulimit -n) and warns if below the recommended limit: proper max number of open files is essential to managing network connections and you should make sure you configure it in the session where you start the node.

Start the node:

cd ~/aeternity/node
bin/aeternity start

(You can stop the node by running bin/aeternity stop from the same directory.)

Verify the node is up, by inspecting the current top of the blockchain as seen by the node:

curl http://127.0.0.1:3013/v2/blocks/top

If the node is unresponsive, inspect the log directory for errors.

Back up the peer key pair:

cp -pr ~/aeternity/node/keys ~/my_aeternity_keys

Mainnet connection

To verify that node is connected to the mainnet, your node should see the same longest blockchain as the mainnet.

Inspect the current top of the blockchain as seen by the mainnet:

curl https://mainnet.aeternity.io/v2/blocks/top

Inspect the current top of the blockchain as seen by your node:

curl http://127.0.0.1:3013/v2/blocks/top

Verify that the height is the same; it may take a few minutes for your node to catch up with the mainnet blockchain.

If the node successfully mines a block, you shall read log entries like the following:

... Block mined: Height = 1; Hash = ...

Mainnet mining

After the node is successfully connected to the mainnet, you could verify that it is mining on the same chain as the rest of the network.
You can validate it observing the hash of the /blocks/top of the remote nodes: